NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has reaffirmed the importance of the Illawarra Women’s Trauma Recovery Centre and its work supporting women to recover from domestic, family and sexual violence.
Mr Park joined women with lived experience, community leaders, supporters and dignitaries at the Centre in Shellharbour on Friday to officially launch the Centre’s first Strategic Plan, setting the direction for the next three years.
Speaking at the launch, Mr Park described equitable healthcare for vulnerable women as “deeply, deeply important” and acknowledged the staff and women with lived experience who have helped shape the Centre.
“What you do matters,” he told staff.
More than 300 women have accessed support through the Centre since the doors opened in 2024.
The 2026–2029 Strategic Plan builds on what the organisation has learned during that time and sets out how the Centre will strengthen services, continue to listen to women with lived experience and build a sustainable model of long-term trauma recovery.
CEO Elise Phillips said the Centre was established because women had been clear that crisis support alone was not enough.
“Safety is essential, but that is not the end of the journey,” she said.
“For many women and children, the impacts of violence continue long after the immediate danger has passed.
“Trauma recovery must be treated as core infrastructure, not as an optional extra.”
Designed with women, for women
Women with lived experience of domestic, family and sexual violence have helped shape the Centre from the beginning.
Faith Labaro has been part of the co-design and lived experience advisory group since before the Centre was built.
She said she remembers trying to find support for herself and her six children through different services, often having to tell her story again and again.
“For most of us, there was nothing like this,” Faith said.
Those experiences helped shape a different approach at the Centre. Women involved in its co-design were asked what would have made their own recovery journeys easier.
Their voices influenced everything from the services available to the lighting, furniture, website and physical spaces women encounter when they walk through the doors.
“Crisis money keeps a woman alive. Recovery gives her a life back,” Faith said.
“You need it all in one place, like this. Counselling, financial education, legal help, wellness, all under one roof.”